With many of the Bethel Baptist Association (BBA) churches going through pastoral transitions, BBA leader, Reverend Timothy Stewart came out of the association's recent 75th convocation impressed with the young pastors who are ready to take the BBA to new heights.
"I was thoroughly impressed with the quality and the tremendous resource we have in the convocation as it relates to the new pastors coming on stream," said Stewart. "We have a cadre of young pastors who are ready to take the convocation to new heights, and I'm most excited to help assist them in that process.
The convocation was held May 15-18 at Bethel Baptist Church on Meeting Street, where Stewart is the senior pastor, under the theme Strengthen the Things that Remain.
In spite of the social, religious, domestic, regional and even international challenges of the time, and in spite of the deterioration, degradation and the destruction that has taken place, Stewart said through the convocation they hoped to communicate to the delegates the basic fundamental values and institution of the church.
Stewart's hope is that the delegates with reinforced and strengthened Christian values returned to their respective communities to help reinforce institutions like home, school, church, community and government.
"If we make a concerted effort to reinforce...to strengthen...to put the necessary ingredients in order, if we can assert the necessary energy, resources and focus, then we can change the direction and course of decline that we're now experiencing. We can cause our nation once again to be on an upward climb spiritually, socially and communally," he said.
The Bethel Baptist Church senior pastor, who served as moderator during the convocation, was charged with ensuring that delegates committed to investing the necessary energy, work resources and help in order to try to realize some of the positive objectives they needed to accomplish in order to assist families, schools, the communities and the nation in general. He was also charged with leading the convocation from scriptural (preaching and teaching) and educational (learning about the country's national resources and the state of them) standpoints.
Stewart described the convocation's celebration of 75 years of existence as a major milestone for the BBA's 15 churches on four islands; over that time they had been committed to ministering to the whole person.
"During that span of time, our churches have been very active in the liberation movement of our nation, so it has a social context to it. We have had churches with powerful outreach ministry to the youth of the country to try to deal with some of the anti-social behavior, coming up with programs and plans to address them. We have outreach ministry that tries to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and to provide counseling to the family. For that length of time we've been preaching the gospel and evangelizing throughout The Bahamas," he said.
Active BBA churches include Bethel Deliverance Baptist Church (Rev. John Rolle), Grand Bahama; Calvary Way Baptist Church (Rev. Ashley Brown), The Bluff, South Andros; Kingdom of Heaven Ministries (Rev. Christopher Smith), Mangrove Cay, Andros; Macedonia Baptist Church (Rev. Hartman Nixon) New Providence; Pilgrim Baptist Church (Rev. Brainard King), Mangrove Cay, Andros; Revival Baptist Church (Rev. Kevin Pinder), Palmetto Point, Eleuthera; St. Paul's Baptist Church (Rev. J. Carl Rahming), New Providence; St. Stephen's Baptist Church (Rev. Lambert Farrington) Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera; The New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church (Brother Alfred Stewart), New Providence; Transformation Elevating Baptist Church (Rev. Reginald Saunders), New Providence; Trinity Baptist Church (Rev. Marina Carey), Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera; New Covenant Baptist Church (Rev. Trajean Jadorette), New Providence; Berean Evangelical Baptist Church (Rev. Jean Paul Charles), New Providence; New Assembly Baptist Church (Rev. Jose Etienne) New Providence; Shiloh Temple Baptist Church (Rev. Lewis Cash), New Providence; The People's Restoration Baptist Church (Rev. Phillip Bethell), Palmetto Point and Remnant Tabernacle of Praise.
"We have seen the influence of the convocation grow from the Florida Baptist Convention, now we are impacting through the Progressive National Baptist Convention. We are impacting basically almost a worldwide outreach through that body. It meant so much to us to be able to celebrate the commitment of our founding fathers and mothers, and then to be able to celebrate the fact that we have not only been true and committed to that vision and to that cause, but we have been able to expand it, and have been able to provide another dimension and another level of impact through the ministry."
Stewart was also thankful that the family island delegates, who he said sacrificed and were able to support the convocation, even during what he termed "difficult and austere times", and the planning committee that he said did an outstanding job in the planning, implementing and execution of the convocation.
The BBA was formed on February 5, 1939 by Reverend H.W. Brown, a former pastor of the historic Bethel Baptist Church. The association's primary purpose is the building of the kingdom of God through Christian work, education and fellowship through harmonious working relations and the desire to make a profound impact through united Christian witnessing. At the first session of BBA, six churches were registered. During the mid-40s, the BBA was affiliated with the East Coast Baptist Convention of Florida. Under Brown, the association grew to approximately 13 churches.
Following the demise of Brown in 1979, Rev. Leroy Brown served at the helm for two years, followed by Rev. Lewis Pinder for one year, followed by Rev. John N.T. Rolle (1986-1998). Today they are under the leadership of Stewart.

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